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Here and There on the Turf How Weight Levels. Defeat of Sting. Chicago Special Entries. Skull Caps in Canada. Weight will bring them all together. It is true, that James Butlers Sting cam: out of the Brooklyn Handicap lame, but it was the 127 pounds more than th weakening of his underpinning that told the tale of his dsfeat. Sling ran possibly his best race of the year in his defeat and the fact that he finished so gamely, after haing gone lame, was an evi dnce of his indomitable courage, but it was the weight that told the story. When it is remembered that Sting only car ried 106 pounds in the Excelsior Handicap against the 124 pounds carried by Mad Play, an idea of how the son of Spur has advanced in the handicap division since the opening of th» racing season is realiied. In the Suburban Handicap Sting had reached ft* p unds, but even under that weight Mad Play was required to give him two pounds, his weight being 124 pounds. Then, by his victory in the Suburban Handicap, Sting in curred a five pounds penalty for the Brooklyn Handicap, while Mr. Vosburgh dropped Mad Play down one pound, making his weigh; 123 pounds. Thus it is seen that Mr. Vos-burghs estimate of the two four year olds for the Brooklyn Handicap was Mad Play 123 and Sting 122 pounds, just the weight he carried successfully in the Suburban, but closer to. the Mad Play impost by one pound. That will show the nicety with which the ! weights were arranged between these two colts | for the opening feature of he Queens County Jockey Club. Mr. Vosburgh had considered Mad Play just a pound better at the distance and had it not been that the Butler colt took up the five pounds penalty that made him give Mad Play four pounds instead of receiving one, a difference of five pounds, the result would surely have been closer and in fact might have been different. It is altogether too bad that Sting should have come out of the race lame, but it was weight rather than infirmity that brought about the defeat. Sting was brought to the races in the Kings County Handicap at Jamaica May 5 and was I handicapped at 106 p. unds to Mad Plays 122. i Mad Play finished third and Sting was fourth in that race. On May 9. just four days later. S:.ng took up 106 pounds to the 124 pound -carried by Mad Flay and won the F.xceNior Handicap at a mile and a sixteenth with great ease. He covered the distance in 1 :42.-.. establishing a new track record and was the winner by five lengths. Then on May 16, six days after th? Ex celsior Handicap, he was again a winner. This t:me he shouldered 124 pounds and established a new record of 1 :41 ■ i for a mile and seventy yards. On May 22, or just a week later. Sting tri umphed in the Metropolitan Handicap at a n.i.e on the opening day of the Be!m nt Park meeting. In that race he took up 114 |iounds, made all the pace and was officially timed in 1 37. Five days after that victory, or May 27, Sting won another ml- and an eighth handicap under 121 pounds and tan the distance easily in 1:51. Ten days later cam- h.s greatest tri umph when he was the winner of the Subur ban Handicap at a mile and a quarter under 122 pounds. In this he made the pace an. I battled it out with wonderful gameness to beat the light weighted Cherry Pie by a nose. with Mad Play, under 124 pounds, just a half length further away. Then on June 15. nine days later, this great son of Spur ran his marvellous race in the Brooklyn Handicap under 127 pounds, which, though he was beaten, was his best perform ance of them all. Then on top of al! this racing. Sting m sent along for a mile and an eighth in 1 :51 as his final trial for the Brooklyn Hand. cap [as late as last Saturday. To say the least it was an exceedingly fast trial so close to the date of the running. Thus it will be seen that Sting has been raced seven times since May 5. Of the.-e races he has won five. He climbed from luti pounds to 127 in the handicap and established one American record and a new truck record. It was a big accomplishment and one that surely entitles the son of Spur to a re,t. Many a good horse has don* le«s in a year. Hi-race- have been close together and in each he lia shown a measure of ho.esty and courage that will always make hi.i stand out as on? of the great American thoroughbreds. The Chicago Special, a weight for age race to be decided at Hawthorne over a mile and three sixteenths rn August 22, has attracted a number of long distance runners from New York. Among these are found Catalan. Sir Ronald. Wise Counsellor. Saraien, Cartoonist, Cherry Pie, Prince of B;urbon, Mad Play. Silver Fox, Altawood. Reminder, Backbone, Transmute. Over AH, Courageous and Sweeping Away. This giscs a fair idea of the importance of this race and. with the lest of the Kentucky stayers engaged, it is a stake race that has tremendou.- imp nance. Canada has come to the .-kull cap idea for jockeys and the Canadian Racing Associations has ordered a number of these protecting he! mets to be worn in race ridirg over the tracks I in their jurisdiction. Thus the good work goes on of having the use of the-e tups uni vcrsal and before 1 mg it is well nigh a=sured I that the cap will be a required part i f jockey .equipment on all reputable race courses. Both Vcitch, who rode St. Lawrence, and ColfiM, who rode Blue and Re! in the Bay side Steeplechase, at Aqueduct Monday, may thank the skull tn; s for not having received [possibly seriiui injuries. When these two horses went down at the water jump, both riders hit the turf hard enough with their heads to be badly hurt without the fibre helmet, but both escaped bad injury ai: 1, in fact, Vcitch remounted St. Lawrence and finished the course for third money.
